Netflix's The Witcher: Blood Origin prequel just cast a major star

Netflix has cast Michelle Yeoh in The Witcher: Blood Origin, its upcoming prequel series that's set a massive 1200 years before the events of that show. In the series, she'll play Scían, the last of a tribe of Elven nomads. This grief-stricken character will be on a journey to alter the fate of the Continent, which is the setting where The Witcher takes place. She's a dab hand with a blade, too.

This announcement comes ahead of WitcherCon on July 9, which will take viewers behind the scenes of the long-awaited The Witcher season 2.

The Witcher: Blood Origin was announced around a year ago in July 2020, and hired The Witcher writer Declan de Barra as its showrunner. Lauren Hissrich, who showruns the main series, is also executive producer on the show.

Michelle Yeoh was expected to star in a Star Trek: Discovery spin-off called Section 31, reprising her role as Georgiou from that series. As it stands, though, that show's future is unclear.

It's also unclear when The Witcher: Blood Origin will release, but we'd expect it to launch next year at the earliest.

Here's the show's official synopsis: "Set in an elven world 1200 years before the world of The Witcher, the prequel tells the story of the creation of the first prototype Witcher, & the events that led to the pivotal 'conjunction of the spheres,' when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one."

Here's Netflix's official announcement:

With an absolutely magical career in the film industry, she’s still flying our 🇲🇾 flag high. Dato’ Michelle Yeoh has been cast in the role of Scían in the upcoming series, The Witcher: Blood Origin 🎉✨ Into the Witcherverse we go! ✨THREAD 1/3 pic.twitter.com/ElHmCOaBHaJuly 6, 2021

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What to expect from WitcherCon

WitcherCon is a livestreamed event co-produced by Netflix and CD Projekt Red, the creators of The Witcher games that popularized Geralt of Rivia beyond those who know the books of Andrzej Sapkowski.

While we think it's possible we'll learn more about Blood Origin at WitcherCon, the most likely thing to come out of the event is a full trailer for The Witcher season 2 – and maybe a firm release date for the show's return to Netflix. After all, by the time it arrives in the final quarter of this year, it will have been around two years since the show debuted. (You can blame the pandemic for that one.)

CD Projekt Red, meanwhile, has confirmed it won't be announcing any new games at the event. So, it makes more to tune in if you're interested in the TV side of things.